Temptation in Shadows (16 page)

“So if I stick around, they’ll hire me?”

“Not always. But you, yes, they’ll hire. They wouldn’t have gone to all the trouble to get you if they didn’t want you.”

“Even though I’m apparently dangerous.”

“Like I said, we’ll take care of that,” he said confidently.

At least he was talking to her, really talking to her now.

Sean pulled off the highway, took a few corners as if they were braced on rails despite the still-thick throng of traffic, and finally parked in front of a house in the middle of suburban paradise.

He led her inside. A large home, like the one she’d once shared with her parents, only this one had dark leather furniture and there weren’t any photos on the walls or sitting on the mantel of the fireplace.

“Yours?” she found herself asking again.

He turned to her, expression unreadable. “I stay here when I need peace and quiet.”

She scrubbed her hands against her thighs, nervous. “Are you ready to talk to me, then?”

He nodded, crossed his arms over his chest. “First, ask me again if this house is mine.”

Gabby still didn’t know what was going on, what he was leading up to, and her nervousness increased. “Is it?” She licked her lips. “Yours?”

He shook his head.

She blinked in confusion. “Whose is it, then?”

“Ours.”

Ours.
The word echoed through her mind, and she almost jumped up and down. “You—you want to live with me?”

“Yes.”

“Here?”

“Here. Anywhere.”

She covered her mouth with her hands to stifle her cry of happiness. Tears were once again pooling in her eyes. Was this really happening?

“What’s mine is now yours. I mean, really. It should be. You have my heart, and everything else is
just bonus. You told me the shadows don’t bother you, and I’m trusting you. I want to marry you, Gabby. I want to live with you. I want to hold on to you and never let you go. I love you. If you don’t want any of that, I’ll understand. I won’t like it, but I’ll understand. Only, you should know that I won’t give up. I’ll romance the hell out of you until you finally cave.”

Her legs almost gave out. This was everything she’d ever secretly dreamed. “I love you, too. I love you and I want to marry you, live with you, be with you forever. You have my heart. Why not my life, too? But if you think that means you don’t have to romance me, you are in for a rude awakening.”

“Thank God.” He strode to her, grabbed her up, and carried her upstairs. “I was prepared to get on my knees and beg if necessary.”

She grinned. She just couldn’t help herself. “Don’t let me stop you.”

He chuckled, and the beautiful sound washed over her. “Oh, I’ll get on my knees soon enough; don’t worry.”

When they reached the bedroom, he tossed her on the mattress. They were too frantic with their desires to go slowly and ended up ripping each other’s clothes in their bid for skin-to-skin contact.

They arched and strained together, hands everywhere, mouths devouring, tasting. Through it all, he was infinitely tender with her, careful of her wounds. She, too, avoided his bandages, but everywhere else was fair game. And when they came together, it was a promise, a homecoming. A prelude. He kissed every inch of her, telling her what he loved about her all the while.

It was the sexiest, sweetest experience of her life.

Afterward, panting and sweaty, they lay together. Holding each other, basking in the moment, the first real love either had ever known. This was unconditional, she knew. This was forever.

“You were really going to give up your job for me,” she said, still awed by that fact.

“Hell, yes. You’re the most important thing in my life.”

A cell phone suddenly rang, echoing off the walls. Sean cursed under his breath, planted a kiss on the base of her throat, and rose to dig the phone from his pants pocket. “Sorry, but I have to take this. It’s the agency’s ringtone.” He pressed the device to his ear and settled back into the bed. “Agent Walker.”

Gabby curled into his side, more content than she’d ever been.

Frowning, he said, “Just a moment,” and handed the phone to her. She didn’t have to place it to her ear because he’d pressed “speaker.”

“Yes?” she asked, confused.

“We’ll see you at oh-eight-hundred hours tomorrow morning, Miss Huit,” Bentley said, “when you’ll begin training for your first mission.”
Click.

She and Sean stared at each other for a moment, and then he began to smile.

“You’re in,” he said.

“Wow. That was fast.”

“Well, like me, they obviously know a good thing when they see it.”

Holy hell. They really were going to work together. Be together. Did life get any better than that?

“Getting the job’s a treat, but I’d rather talk about something else.” She traced her fingertip around one
of his nipples, then the other, before sliding her hand down and gripping his cock. “It’s my turn to tell you everything I love about you. So settle in, because this is going to take a while.”

GENA SHOWALTER
is the
New York Times
and
USA Today
bestselling author of novels including The Lords of the Underworld series. She writes in a thrilling blend of genres: paranormal and contemporary romances, cutting-edge young adult novels, and urban fantasy. She lives in the South with her family and three slobbery English bulldogs.

Visit her at:
www.genashowalter.com
.

This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

“Temptation in Shadows” copyright © 2010 by Gena Showalter.

Originally published in 2010 in the anthology
The Bodyguard
.

All rights reserved. For information, address St. Martin’s Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.

www.stmartins.com

Cover art © Patricia Schmitt (Picky Me)

eISBN 978-1-4668-7189-2

First eBook Edition: June 2014

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